Shade is an opportunity, not a problem

Most small gardens have at least one difficult corner: the strip beside a north-facing fence, the patch under a tree, the gap between the shed and the boundary wall. These spots are usually dry, dim and stubbornly resistant to anything colourful. The temptation is to fight them with bedding plants that sulk, or to pave them over and forget about them.

A better approach is to accept the conditions and plant things that actually enjoy them. Woodland plants evolved beneath a canopy of trees, competing for light and moisture, and they are tough as a result. Once established, a border of ferns, hostas and hellebores will look after itself for most of the year, needing little more than an annual tidy-up and a top-up of mulch. For a small garden with limited time and a watering can that never seems to be where you left it, that is a considerable relief.

Ferns: the backbone of a shady border

If you plant nothing else, plant ferns. They bring texture and movement to dark corners, they are almost never troubled by pests, and they tolerate dry shade far better than their delicate appearance suggests.

• Hart's tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium) has glossy, undivided fronds that look smart all winter. It copes with deep shade and dry soil, and looks superb in a pot beside a step.
• Soft shield fern (Polystichum setiferum) forms a neat shuttlecock of feathery fronds. It stays evergreen in all but the hardest winters.
• Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum) is the one to choose if you want colour, with fronds washed in silver and burgundy. It prefers a little moisture, so tuck it into soil enriched with leaf mould.
• Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) unfurls coppery new growth in spring before settling to deep green.

Cut tatty fronds back in late winter, just before the new croziers push through, and water new plants well through their first summer. After that, they largely fend for themselves.

Hostas: foliage that does the heavy lifting

Hostas are grown for their leaves rather than their flowers, and in a small shady garden that is exactly what you want. A single well-grown clump can fill half a square metre with colour and shape, from the thick, blue-grey leaves of Hosta 'Halcyon' to the cream-splashed margins of 'Patriot'. Larger forms such as Hosta sieboldiana make superb ground cover under shrubs.

Slugs are the only real complaint. Rather than reaching for pellets, try a combination of tactics:

• Plant hostas in pots with copper tape around the rim, or stand them on a gritty surface.
• Choose thick-leaved varieties, which slugs find far less appealing than thin, soft ones.
• Water in the morning so the soil surface dries before night, when slugs are most active.
• Go out with a torch after rain and remove them by hand. Ten minutes, twice a week, makes a surprising difference.

Divide clumps every three or four years in early spring if they outgrow their space. Lift the whole plant, slice through the crown with a spade, and replant the outer sections.

Hellebores: flowers when nothing else will

Hellebores earn their place by flowering in the gloom of January and February, when the rest of the garden is asleep. Helleborus niger, the Christmas rose, produces white blooms on short stems; the hybrid Helleborus x hybridus offers nodding flowers in dusky purples, creams, pinks and near-blacks.

They are undemanding once settled, but they do have one quirk: the old foliage becomes tatty and can carry leaf spot. Cut all the previous year's leaves to the ground in late winter, before the flower buds open, and the new growth will come through clean and healthy. A handful of compost around the crown each spring is all the feeding they need.

Hellebores self-seed gently, so a single plant can gradually furnish a border. Leave the seedlings where they fall, or move them while small.

Planting and aftercare that cuts the watering

The secret to a low-maintenance border is getting plants established properly in the first place. Do this well and you can more or less put the watering can away.

• Improve the soil before planting. Fork in two or three buckets of garden compost or leaf mould per square metre. Shady soil is often compacted and hungry.
• Plant in autumn or early spring, when the soil is warm and damp and rain will do the watering for you.
• Water deeply and less often. A thorough soak once a week beats a light sprinkle every evening, because it encourages roots downwards.
• Mulch 5–7cm deep with composted bark or leaf mould. Keep it clear of stems and crowns to avoid rot. This one job, done each spring, suppresses weeds and holds moisture for months.
• Group plants by need. Put thirsty ferns and hostas together in the damper spots, and drought-tolerant hellebores and epimediums where the soil dries out under trees.

If you have a water butt, site it near the shady border so topping up during a dry spell is quick and easy.

Making a small space feel generous

In a compact garden, shade-loving plants work hardest when arranged in layers. Ferns at the back give height without bulk, hostas fill the middle ground with bold foliage, and hellebores, tiarella or epimedium knit the front edge together. Add a few pots of hart's tongue fern to lift the planting off the ground and draw the eye upwards.

Because these plants are mostly green, use leaf shape and texture for contrast rather than colour — the divided fronds of a shield fern against the broad, smooth leaves of a hosta, or the leathery, fingered foliage of hellebore. A single dark-leaved Ophiopogon or a small skimmia will add a point of stillness.

Above all, be patient. A shady border takes two or three seasons to fill out, but once it does, it becomes the least demanding part of the garden — a green, restful corner that asks for almost nothing and gives a great deal back.